Senator lauds bills creating opportunities, protection for women

Wednesday

Feb 13, 2013 at 9:22 PM

BATON ROUGE — A set of bills being debated on Capitol Hill to protect women against violence and create new opportunities for minorities in scientific fields are important and should be passed into law this year, said Sen. Mary Landrieu.

Jeremy AlfordCapitol Correspondent

BATON ROUGE — A set of bills being debated on Capitol Hill to protect women against violence and create new opportunities for minorities in scientific fields are important and should be passed into law this year, said Sen. Mary Landrieu.The Senate voted 78-22 Tuesday to advance the Violence Against Women Act, which renews and expands laws created in 1984 to protect victims of domestic and sexual violence. It is now up to the House to pass its own version, although it failed to act last April when the Senate first passed a nearly identical Violence Against Women Act.Like other Democrats, Landrieu, a New Orleans native, voted in favor of the legislation, while Sen. David Vitter of Metairie followed suit, despite a divide over the issue among fellow Republicans. Since mid-2011, there have been more than 16 million incidents in the U.S. of rape, physical violence and stalking by an intimate partner, Landrieu said.The renewal of the act is particularly important for Louisiana, she added, since it consistently ranks among the top five for women killed as a result of domestic violence. Last year as a result of the act, $4.9 million was awarded to local governments and organizations in Louisiana for the purpose of combatting violence, according to the Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women. “This legislation will save lives,” she said. “I hope the House of Representatives will follow the Senate's lead and quickly pass this important bill.”There were 22 Republican senators who opposed the reauthorization, some arguing the states should decide how to distribute such funding. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who gave the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday evening, told Politico he did not like how the bill redirected funds from domestic violence programs to sexual assault programs, even though “there's no evidence to suggest this shift will result in a greater number of convictions.” Landrieu, chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has also introduced separate legislation that would propel women and minorities in fields normally dominated by men. It is called the Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Booster Act of 2013 or the STEM Booster Act. In education and economic development circles, STEM has become a widely used acronym referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.By authorizing $10 million annually over three years for the National Science Foundation, a competitive grant program could be created, Landrieu said. “Increasing participation in the fields of math and science by qualified women and minorities will serve to strengthen America's entrepreneurial spirit,” she said. “The STEM Booster Act is a great way to expand the talent pool in STEM disciplines, which will not only increase diversity in math and science programs, but also make America more competitive in the global economy,” she said.According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, minorities make up only 28 percent of the overall STEM workforce. While women make up 48 percent of the national workforce, they make up just 24 percent of STEM workers. In 2007, under-represented minority groups made up 33.2 percent of the college-age population of the United States, but only 17.7 percent of undergraduate students earning a baccalaureate degree in a STEM field.Sen. Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat who is co-sponsoring the legislation with Landrieu, said the goal is to inspire future generations to earn a STEM education while retaining the women and minority workers already in the field.“If we want to keep our STEM industry growing, we need to make these fields of study readily available to women and minorities, and promote programs that will encourage all students to join the field,” Pryor said.STEM institutions, departments and organizations would compete for money under the proposed program that could be used for online workshops, mentoring, internships and outreach. The bill has received support from organizations that represent a broad range of STEM industry companies, such as the Association of Women in Science, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Association of Women's Business Centers and Women Impacting Public Policy.